Comment/Response? 
Daily activities of the owner of a 20 acre Organic Farm plus
observations, notes, and comments on a wide variety of topics.
| 1 | |
| 2 | Disked next rows of
ornamental sunflowers in the Fairway West Field.
Also disked harvested potato rows. Put onion bags on ripe sunflower seed heads. |
| 3 | Hoed late cukes and pickles. Put cardboard squares under pumpkins to minimize slug damage. Added more display water jars to the Roadside Stand to hold more cut ornamental sunflowers. |
| 4 | Put up a 3rd level wire on several rows in the Tomato Field. Bought 28,000 square feet of bird netting on eBay for the sunflower seed head fields. |
| 5 | Mowed the blueberries. Planted 2 more rows of ornamental sunflowers in the West Fairway Field. |
| 6 | Prepared for the Farmers Market. |
| 7 | Worked a Vendor booth at the
St. Joseph, MI Farmers Market. Hand push mowed the sunflowers in the Grapes SE Field. |
| 8 | Weed chopped sunflowers an Grapes SE. Put cardboard squared under the pumpkins to protect from slugs. |
| 9 | Put up supports for bird
netting in SE Grapes Field. I used 1/2" conduit lengths pounded in a grid with
30ft spacing each way. I cut the conduit to 8 1/2 ft long so they could be driven
2ft in to the ground and extend 6 1/2ft up. I used plastic bailing twine to connect
the tops to each other. The twine was strong enough to support the plastic bird
netting. Tied tomato plants to next higher wire. |
| 10 | Cleaned off some birdhouse gourds for sale as blanks at the Farmers Markets. Mowed the paths around the farm and the sunflowers in the East Meadow SW. |
| 11 | Mowed the Tomato Field. Drilled and cleaned out 4 gourds for birdhouses. |
| 12 | Bought lumber to add additional shelving in the greenhouse to dry out sunflower seed heads. Bagged individual sunflower seed heads in some of the sparse fields. |
| 13 | Prepared for the Farmers
Market. Hung the first section of bird netting over the sunflowers in the Grapes SE Field. |
| 14 | Worked a Vendor booth at the
St. Joseph, MI Farmers Market. Hung the remaining bird netting sections to protect the sunflower seed heads in Grapes SE. |
| 15 | Seamed adjoining bird net sections together. |
| 16 | Finished seaming bird netting in Grapes SE sunflower field. Put cardboard under pumpkins. |
| 17 | Replaced brush hog wheel and yoke assembly. Changed tractor oil and spark plugs. Mowed the farm paths. |
| 18 | First picking (2 crates) of late pickles and cukes. Bagged sunflower seed heads. Put the remaining water jars on the Roadside Stand for more cut sunflowers. |
| 19 | Put up conduit bird net poles in the East Meadow SW and SE Fields. |
| 20 | Prepared for the Farmers Market. |
| 21 | Worked a Vendor booth at the
St. Joseph, MI Farmers Market. Roto tilled the paths in the ornamental sunflower rows. Watered sunflower seedlings. Put up bird net twine in the East Meadow SW Field. |
| 22 | Removed the last tomato and
pepper plants from the Roadside Stand. Mowed and chopped the weeds in the East Meadow SE sunflower field. Started hanging sections of bird netting. |
| 23 | Started seaming nets together in East Meadow SE. Bagged some sunflower seed heads. |
| 24 | Finally picked a few tomatoes. |
| 25 | Picked 5 lugs of late pickles and cukes. |
| 26 | Got 2.1" of rain (!!) Finished setting bird netting in East Meadow SE Field. |
| 27 | Prepared for the Farmers Market. |
| 28 | Worked a Vendor booth at the
St. Joseph, MI Farmers Market. Put cardboard under pumpkins. Cut a sunflower seed head for a drying test in the greenhouse. |
| 29 | Replaced the tie rod on Miss Daisy. Cut net sections for the East Meadow SW sunflower field. |
| 30 | Finished setting the net section in the East Meadow SW Field. Mowed off the main field of pickles and cukes. |
| 31 | Headered off the pumpkins by clipping the ends of most vines. This stops lateral growth and encourages the plants to place all their energy in the setting fruit. |
Comment/Response? 